A odd encounter (Cherry and Maya SL)

It was decently early in the morning and Cherry had only woken up a hour ago. And had said her goodbye's to Abzu. There where still so many things Cherry wanted to ask her about, but it was clear that the robot had places to go, so Cherry didn't try to hold her back. After that Cherry thought about laying down and going back to sleep, but she did have a job to do. She had to be awake and aware if and when the group would head out! Plus she had to handle her second duty, which was mostly self enforced. That being patroling the area for any signs of danger. That way she could fend it off, or run and warn everybody if the enemy was strong enough.

The job was quite simple. All Cherry had to do was walk around and keep her eyes and ears out for any sign of demons, or thieves. Something that Cherry was used to doing for all of her life! Although it was very dull and boring. After all walking around, trying to spot any differences in the same place you already check a hour ago isn't really the most fun thing in the world. But Cherry was willingly to put up with it, if it meant that her 'clients' where safe and sound. At the moment though the teen decided to take a little break, sitting down in the snow and only partly listening to what was happening around her.

Maya had come to the Cold area, few things wandered around here, she knew that much, and if things had been around she could see them coming and there were much more places to hide. There was also the fact that a lot of the buildings here were not fully emptied, why that was she didn't care to much about, she was currently wearing a badly made parka, basically a bunch of rags and clothing all tied together around her body and head to keep her warm here, with the same thing done to her legs to protect them from the cold, it did make her stand out as it made her look larger, but that also meant it allowed her to escape a lot easier as a few times already she had been chased into places the demon's didn't think she could escape from but due to her size she had no problems doing so.

As she walked around her eye was looking over everything, looking for signs that something had gone by, or that something was looking around, she had failed to see Cherry for the simple fact that the girl was behind a corner, so the Small Shadow continued to walk unaware she was coming closer to someone.

While the girl was resting her legs, she picked up the sound of footsteps and snow being crushed near her. Quickly hopping to her feet, she started to walk towards the source of the noise. Getting ready to see if this was a threat or a human she needed to bring to the 'camp.' "Hello, is anybody ther-" The teen's cheery voice faltered as her grey eyes settle on the creature before her. It was unsettling to say the least, just looking at it made her feel uncomfortable. She has never seen a demon quite like this before either, it had one large eye and was so short. Even shorter than Cherry was! The creature could see Cherry's muscles tensing up, as it looked like the girl was about to rush at the smaller stranger. About to slam into it without a second thought or question. But before she actually made a move to strike, she noticed the bandages wrapped around it's body. The thing before her must have been wounded. More importantly it had to be smart enough to put this on itself. That or some other demon did that for it, but Cherry did not think that they where that kind.

This was enough to make her pause though. As a thought crossed her mind. A thought that may have saved the little thing from getting turned into a fine paste due to Cherry's arm. If it was smart enough to wrap bandages around it, maybe it could speak with her? And in that case she could get some useful info before she attacked. "Halt!" The teen yelled out, trying to make her voice as deep and booming as she could. She crossed her arms together and made it clear that her left arm was not normal. "If you can understand me demon, then tell me what you are doing here. For your sake, I hope you're not here looking for food!" Despite how scary she was trying to make herself seem, if the creature looked at her body it would be able to tell that Cherry was wary of it. Small or not this thing seemed to be apart of the same race that had put her and many others through hell. She couldn't allow herself to let her guard down around it.

Maya continued walking, seeing a building that looked like it might have things in it she was focused on that as she walked forward, not expecting anything as the place seemed empty, barely a sound could be heard so she felt somewhat safe, Demons would be making a lot of noise, they had no real reason to be silent, Humans would likely not wander in the open like this, so she might be safe from them... though they had those loud sticks that could hurt you from a distance so maybe she should be trying to stay hidden incase a human caught sight of her?

As she was thinking this there was suddenly a call out and a human stepped out in front of her, Maya froze her eye looking at the human going over her form and she seen her muscles tighten, and she took a reflexive step back at seeing that, she was sure she was about to be attacked again... though as she looked at the human she noticed the strange arm... a demon? a demon that looked human? a human that collected demon parts? she had no clue but the fear would be quite clear in her eye as she looked at the taller girl and took another step back.

The human then said something rather loudly, maybe it was calling for more? she didn't know. the Girl raised both arms, which made Maya take another step back fearing she was about to be attacked, causing her to stumble and fall backwards, here eye still locked on the human as it continued to say something, only part of which she was able to understand...Demon... sake... food... as she picked out the words she could understand her eye opened wide in panic, was this human going to eat her? she needed to get away quickly!

Rolling over Maya started to scramble her legs and arms digging into the snow and allowing her propel forward as she managed to just barely get to her feet "N...no...no...eat....Please...!" she called out fearfully as she started running.

The reaction this creature had to her threw the bonded for a loop. Instead of replying with a threat or trying to attack her, this thing had just falled flat on her butt and was looking at her in total fear. Maybe it has mistook Cherry for a demon, and this one was just a weaker demon? Or it could be as simple as it just got out of a fight, and couldn't afford to get into another one? Whatever the reason was, it made Cherry less scared and more just confused about what this thing was doing.

"Eat? Who said anything about me eating you!?" The actual verbal answer wasn't any better, although it did clye Cherry in on the fact that this thing either had a very poor grasp on the english language, was WAY to easy to scare, or some mixture of both. Either way at this point Cherry was sure that this wasn't going to be a threat to anybody. And normally she would have just let the creature go, with a pat on her back with a job well done. But this short little creature had caught Cherry's attention. The way it was acting was just too strange for her to not be curious.

"H-hey! Wait a minute! I don't wanna eat you! Come back here!" The teen huffed in annoyance as she rushed after the small little critter. Her large arm keeping her from fully catching up, despite this though she was still able to follow it pretty well. Not seeming to lose track of where it turned or tripping on any ice at all.

Maya continued to run through the deep snow, losing her would be next to impossible with how much she stood out due to the fact that the clothing she was wearing tied to her, but she didn't care she was simply trying to run faster then the Human behind her, she didn't bother looking back, that would make her trip over something if she wasn't careful, and she needed to be careful if she wanted to escape. So the short girl continued to run through the snow, looking for a place to escape through, something the one chasing her couldn't fit into, even if she had to ditch the thing keeping her warm, she could find more to make herself warm again if she had to, this wasn't the first one she made and would likely lose.

She then heard the Human yelling. It was following her... Wait... Eat you... She let out  scream and continued to run trying to get away all the more, other humans had given up the chase rapidly, this one was after her and wanted to eat her, she hadn't run into a human like this before... maybe that's how it got the Arm? She didn't know.. would it take her eye? was that how that human got the arm? it ate the thing that had that arm before it? in her panicked thoughts she tripped and fell into the snow, flailing a moment as she struggled to get up quickly. looking back to see they were still chasing her "No... pleas.e...no...eat..." she called back as she looked around desperately and seen some fallen buildings that she might be able to fit between the rubble, and she got herself back to her feet and started to run in that direction, it was her safest bet to try to get somewhere that the human chasing her couldn't get into.

Cherry has gotten ratherly skilled at chasing things down over the years. Mostly animals, but this thing seemed to follow the same rule of thumb that prey did. It was running as fast as it could, wasting it's energy. That was the real key to hunting. You didn't need to catch them per say, just had to follow close enough behind to quickly strike when they got tired. And the Highrise was one of the best places for that, when the rare animal did cross by. The bitter cold would tire people out quicker than normal, and the snow left tracks that could be followed. Of course none of that really mattered with this 'prey' as Cherry was doing a rather good job of keeping up with it, without wasting her own energy. The girl whinced as the little thing let out a scream. It seemed to have miss understood her yet again.

"Stop running already! I said I wasn't uh. Um. Me, no, eat you! Me no eat you!" She said, hoping that the extra focus on 'no' and her making the way she spoke more simple would help it understand. And if it didn't well.......... "moi ne te mange pas! She yelled out. Her voice coming out clearer as she sliped into her mother tongue with ease. Hoping that it could understand that at least.

Her eyes soon darted to the little stranger rushing to the rubble. Giving her more proof that it was smart, this little stunt would have worked for most people but sadly Cherry wasn't most people. She was bonded, and she would be able to lift or punch through those rubble with ease. Not letting up Cherry kept up the case, getting ready to get rid of the large objects in her way if need be.

Maya heard it calling back as she made for the close packed rubble, she wasn't sure if it was telling the truth... but previous meetings with humans and demons had taught her not to expect to get out of this unharmed, and so as she got to the Rubble she started to look for a tight way through, then she heard more yelling words she didn't understand at all. So she ignored them. She then found a path that was just a little to small, and so she dove for it the opening not quite big enough but that wasn't a problem she would open her mouth and take a large bite out of the concrete and rebar chewing quickly and swallowing as she enlarged the passage just enough for her to squeeze through and so she wriggled her way through the rubble eating concrete and rebar when it was to small, Sure she would get away like this, it had worked before, there was no reason it wouldn't work again.

As she scrambled through the Rubble she finally found a more open section... like a little cave in the rubble made by how it fell, and she looked around, there was nowhere to go from here, but at the same time, there was no way to get to her except the path she used... at least that's how she seen it, even Demons gave up rather then try to dig something out when it was so much rubble, and so she moved to the back of the cave like open space and stared at the direction she had come from, taking the time to catch her breath again. and try to think of what to do if it could somehow follow her... maybe try to eat a passage out?..... but how far would she have to go? could she even eat that much? she didn't know... but she was hopeful she was safe now.

As Cherry guessed the little creature went under the rubble, trying it's damnest to get away from her. And to it's credit she was forced to stop dead in her tracks and she eyed the rubble in front of her. There was too much of it for Cherry to waste her time with trying to pick it up. So she just went the brute force way of doing things. Rasing her hand up to the sky with a grunt, she slammed it down on to the rubble in a brutal karate chop. Breaking one of the objects in half and causing stone to fly everywhere. She would continue to slam and chop at the rubble. The sounds of crushing stone and bricks was easy to hear, and soon after they stopped the sound of running would fill the silent void. As Cherry was running after the little bugger, following the tracks it made in the snow, she saw it led to a cave. This thing was either trying to use it as a hideout, or it was calling for backup. Either way Cherry wasn't going to give up now. If it was using this cave as a mere hideout, it had made a mistake in thinking it would stop this bullheaded girl. And if it was asking for backup, well, while Cherry did not like the idea of fighting a hoarde of demons all by her lonesome. She couldn't just let a whole nest of demons live now could she?

Walking into the cave, the first thing she noticed is that other than herself and the one eyed thing staring at her. They where totally alone, so her first guess was correct after all. Cherry was honestly pretty annoyed that this thing made her spend so much effort into tracking it down, but looking at it some more, the feeling of annoyance turned into a feeling of pity as she looked down on the creature. It was hurt and scared. And while there was little ekse it could be, Cherry wasn't even sure it was a demon yet! It could be something like her, or maybe the same thing that Snow was? Either way no matter what this thing was, or how creepy it looked, Cherry felt the need to speak with it a little bit. Try and find out more about them. But the real problem was how she'd convice it, that she didn't mean any harm.

After just looking at the thing for a good few seconds, she take off her backpack and unzip it. Before taking out a slightly decaying bunny, and tossing it near her. "That." She pointed to the body of bunny that laid next to her. "Is.......... For you to eat. For you." She said slowly, trying be as clear and simple to it as she could be. No matter how it reacted, Cherry would take a deep breath, allowing the spring of spirit energy to fill her lungs, before she released a air of healing energy on the pitful being. A freshing chill would run down it's body, as it's wounds would slowly, but surely heal.

"Me just want to talk. Me friend..........."

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Maya started to calm down some, it didn't sound like the human was pursuing her, and so she started to consider leaving the cave of rubble and heading off again in a different direction, s she could avoid running into that human once more, and just as she decided it was likely safe to make that move, a thunderous Crashing sound her eye opening wide... it was coming after her... and she had nowhere to go Panicked she looked around the cave was a dead end, she would have to go back out to find a place to run to... but the crushing sounds were getting closer... and louder... was it angry? was it that hungry that it wasn't going to let her escape? Tears started to well up in her eye when the human appeared at the mouth of the cave as she realized she likely wasn't getting away this time and she simply curled up in to a ball and whimpered, Crying quietly to herself as she heard footsteps coming closer.

Maya heard a sound of a Zipper, then a thump in the snow near her, she whimpered and cowered into the wall of the rubble cave trying to stay as small as possible, as she heard a single word, one she understood, she peaked out from behind her arms and looked at the human, tears running down her cheeks before she looked at what it was pointing at... a dead rabbit... then she looked back at the human.. was it trying to make her well fed so it would get a larger meal later? She didn't know, it said words she understood, but only barely, was it giving the food to her? then why did it chase her so much?

Then the human took in a deep breath and blew out some form of energy at her and Maya cowered again letting out a scared squeak as she curled into a tighter little ball and closed her eye tight thinking it was about to attack her, it felt colder.. and she expected to simply be turned to ide or something... but instead.. the wounds she had on her body started to feel better, she opened her eye in surprise and confusion. this was something she wasn't used to have happen, she then peeked at the human again as it spoke... she only understood a few words though.. Me...Want... talk.... Me... she didn't understand the rest not well enough to figure out what it wanted... but it's body language was not aggressive.

She stayed curled up though and continued to look at her, still clearly scared, but she nodded slowly, not wanting it to attack her... maybe if she did what it wanted it would let her live? "Y...yes....M...Me...t..talk...." she said slowly still looking right at the human looking for any sign it might turn aggressive again.

The creature seemed to relax just a tiny bit as Cherry gave it some food and healed it's wounds. She felt some gult for making it so scared and forcing it to cry, but she made no moves to comfort it just yet. One wrong move could set this thing off again, and Cherry wasn't all that eager to chase it down again. "I uh............. I am." She wasn't too sure on how she was going to discuss and chat with this thing. It was clear that this thing didn't have a solid grasp on english, and didn't reply at all to her french. Biting on her lower lip softly in thought, she went over the best way to speak and ask questions in her head. After a while she just choose to wing it.

"Are you......... Demon? Yes? No?" Cherry would ask very slowly, trying to use her hands to hopefully get her point across better. After waiting for a answer, she would fire off another question. "Do you, have name?" Talking with this thing was like talking with one of those skulled birds. But then she had Snow on her side, with this ine she just had to go on a limb and talk very slowly in hopes that it would get it. "My name is Cherry........ I am demon, uh, fighter. Me fight demons. Get rid of bad people." It felt so strange to be talking like this, but it seemed to be working. So she would stick with it.

The Human started to talk, then stopped again, as she looked at it, she wasn't sure why it was talking to her, humans had just tried to hurt her before, and now suddenly his one was chasing her down and feeding her.. and healing her wounds, Maya was very confused but for the moment she would take this over it beating her or eating her, though she had to wonder why it was doing this... was it just waiting for more humans to arrive so they could beat her together? Was this it trying to gain her trust so she would let down her guard and THEN it would start beating her... she really didn't know.

But the Human started to talk again and she didn't dare make a sound as it was talking, you... demon? yes? no? she looked at the human, she was attacked by demons... she probably wasn't one then... so she shook her head ".n....no..." she said, her voice barely a scared whisper as she continued to watch the human carefully. Then it asked her something else... you... name?.. was it asking her what she was called... "M.... Maya...." she said once more very quietly.

She didn't understand why this human was asking her all this but if answering was stopping it from killing her she would answer, maybe if she did it would let her go? it did heal her so maybe it wasn't going to kill her? it then said those words again... but then said a word she didn't know, then said she was a demon? but... she looked human... get rid of people?... it looked like she wanted her to understand so she chanced pointing at the human "D...demon?" she said as she looked at the human trying to figure out what it was talking about.

Okay so this thing was not a demon, or it was trying to lie to her to stay alive. Although while this thing was not a human, once again it may not have been something that had to die. It even had a name. "Me......... Like your name. Maya is good name. Great name." She said with a soft smile. Trying her best to comfort the little thing, or maybe it would be best to call it a girl? It choose a feminie name, so calling it a her, instead of it would probably be better. "You can........... Relax............ Me friend." Cherry had already felt like she wasn't going to hurt anybody, but it was hard to comfort her when she couldn't pat it's head without scaring it. And of course being forced to speak so slow and awkwardly for Maya to understand.

Cherry shook her head. "No.......... Me no demon." She said as she pressed her thumb to her chest. The cyclops was rather lucky that Cherry wasn't as angry or annoyed that she was called a demon, seeing as she was probably confused and very scared by all of this. "Me........... Kill......... Demons. Me......... Keep........ People safe." She felt rather goofy speaking like this, but it seemed to be working, she she kept on.

"What.......... Is........... You?" If she wasn't a demon then maybe she was a strange animal Cherry has never seen before? It wasn't too far fetched. She didn't know that those skull crows even existed until a few days ago. Cherry would continue to look at Maya with her eyes filled with a mix of pity, and confusion.

Maya continued to look at the human, her eye studying her, the Human wasn't in a aggressive posture, she wasn't sure what that motion with her mouth was but it didn't seem aggressive, it was after the sounds that came out of their mouth, she understood a few of the words, Me... Name... her name... good... name... and the small girl just continued to watch Cherry as she said things again that she didn't understand, You... me.. she just continued to look at her and it seemed the human was trying to talk to her at least, and so far she was still alive at least and that was good... but why did they keep them alive?

The girl then explained she wasn't a demon, and Maya relaxed a bit, and as the girl explained she killed demons? well.. that explained why there was no Demons around... so... then she was safe right? she wasn't a demon so this girl had no reason to kill her right? She continued to look at the Human as she then asked what she was which she understood "D...do....n..not...k...know..." she stammered out as she noticed the look in the human's eyes. It was a look that she didn't understand, she hadn't seen it before, but it wasn't aggressive at least and so she slowly reached out and grabbed the dead rabbit the girl had tossed near her and slowly pulled it closer being careful not to move quickly so she didn't get the Human mad or make it think she was trying to hurt it.

Putting one of her fingers and her thumb up to her chin as she moled over what this small girl just said. So it didn't even know what it was. That made this a whole lot more complex. It knew it wasn't a demon at least, so that helped Cherry get on the right train of thought. But she still didn't have too much to on, Maya could be a alien, or maybe her earlier 'theory' was right and this was a semi smart animal. Or it could be as simple that it lost it's memories, like those movies and shows her mom used to watch! "Do............. You............ Have memories?................ What do you................ Recall?"

A small smile crossed her lips as Maya went to grab the dead animal off the ground. It was starting to trust her know, that means the talk between the two of them would be so much more easy for the teenager. "Where............ Do........... You come............. From?" Maybe if she knew where the little one eyed girl came from, she'd get some clues on what she actually WAS. Of course there was also the chance that she wouldn't understand her question, but the girl would cross that bridge when she came to it.